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New Moon for September 2004
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Karaite Korner Newsletter #168 On Wednesday, September 15th, 2004, the new moon was sighted by Magdi Shamuel at 19:05 from Ashdod, Israel. Therefore, the Yom Teruah Holiday will be Wednesday night and Thursday day only. Happy Yom Teruah! Nehemia Gordon Reporting from Eilat, Israel ____________________________________________________________________ Karaite Korner Newsletter #169 In the previous letter, I reported that on Wednesday night (Sept 15) the new moon was sighted by Magdi Shamuel from Ashdod, Israel. Some wrote back asking if there does not need to be two witnesses. The requirement for two witnesses in the Torah is specifically for criminal trials in which a person could be executed (NU 35:30; Dt 17:6). Dt 19:15-18 explains that one witness can testify in non-capital cases, but the matter must be thoroughly investigated. Nowhere does the Torah say anything about the number of witnesses for new moon sightings. The truth is, if you have ten new moon observers and they are not reliable then their testimony is useless. In this case, Magdi Shamuel is our most experienced and reliable observer. It is possible others have also seen the moon Thursday night, but they will not report in until Sunday. At the present time we only know of Magdi seeing it. It was not seen in Ramla, Jerusalem, Eilat, or any of the other locations in Israel that reported in. Nehemia Gordon Jerusalem, Israel ____________________________________________________________________ Karaite Korner Newsletter #170 Second Sighting of New Moon A second observer, Roy Hoffman, sighted the new moon on Wednesday September 15, 2004 from Modiin, Israel. More details were recieved from Magdi Shamuel who saw the new moon from Ashdod on Wednesday September 15. Magdi reports that the moon remained visible for about 4 minutes to the naked eye. Magdi also confirmed the observation with binoculars and the moon remained visible with binoculars for 13 minutes. Nehemia Gordon Jerusalem, Israel _________________________________________________________________ NOTE: ALL COUNT DOWN CLOCKS WILL BE ONE DAY OFF (SLOW) ------------count down clocks corrected 9/17/04-------- |